Means for lifting sheet material from a support or pile



Feb. 25, 1936., Q R HA N zmzaso MEANS FOR LIFIING SHEET MATERIAL FROM A SUPPORT OR PILE Filed Feb. 2, 1953 Patented Feb. 25,- 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MEANS FOR LIFTING SHEET MATERIAL FROM A SUPPORT OR PILE a British company Application February 2, 1933, Serial No. 654,803

In Great Britain October 19, 1932 1 Claim. (01. 206-47) This invention is for improvements in or relating' to means for lifting sheet material from a support or pile.

Difliculty is frequently experienced in lifting a single sheet of thin pliable material, such as carbon and like duplicating paper as used on typewriters, tissue paper, ,greaseproof paper, metal foil, transparent sheet material having a base of cellulose in non-fibrous form, sometimes called regenerated cellulose, and the like from a flat support on which it is laid or from the top of a pile of such sheets, because the sheets tend to adhere firmly together or to a flat support on which they are laid. Frequently, a finger moistened by the lips or tongue is used for lifting such sheets, but this is an unhygienic operation.

It has heretofore been proposed to provide a container for packs of bound cigarette papers or like sheets with a cover to which is attached a small sheet of wax, whereby sheets can be picked up and taken from. the container. In one such construction in which the sheet of wax was placed on the lower face of the cover, it was found that the wax adhered too firmly to the top sheet to be lifted, and to obviate this defect, an insulating sheet was normally interposed between the cover and the pack. This arrangement had the drawback, however, that seven manipulations were required for using the appliance. In another such construction, an abutment was provided normally preventing contact of the adhesive member with the sheets, while the container was closed, but the abutment allowed such contact to be produced by pressure applied to the closed container without removal of the abutment. The abutment was constituted either by a raised frame surrounding the adhesive member or by elastic bands surrounding the pack of loose sheets. Such an abutment in the form of a frame is objectionable on the ground that it increases the cost of manufacture of the container, and when in the form of elastic bands, is liable to damage the pack, and is quite unsuitable for use with carbon papers or the like.

The present invention has for its objects to obviate these drawbacks and to provide improved means for use in lifting single sheets of thin and to contact substantially over its entire area with the top sheet of the pile to be lifted, an adhesive member that is carried by the underside of said cover and has on only one side an adhesive face to be applied to the upper surface 5 of the said top sheet, and a tab constituting a handle member attached to the upper side of the cover opposite to the adhesive member, which adhesive member has a flexible portion that is to be temporarily applied to the sheet to be lifted and lies out of the plane of the under face of the cover, and is unattached to the cover. When the cover is pressed down on the pile, the adhesive member will adhere to the top sheet, and owing to the absence of air between the cover and the top sheet, these two parts will also adhere together owing to the suction effect produced, whereby the lifting of thetop sheet and its separation from the second top sheet of the pile is materially facilitated. Also, owing to that portion of the adhesive member which adheres to the top sheet being flexible, separation of the lifted top sheet from the adhesive member without tearing the sheet is facilitated because the adhesive member can yield during the separating operation.

This improved construction has the further advantage over; those proposed heretofore, in that it can be manufactured at a very low cost as the adhesive member may be constituted by a flexible piece of tape that has its two ends attached, as by adhesive, to the cover, and has its middle portion free from the latter. No frame surrounding the flexible member is required, and the use of bands surrounding the pile is entirely 3f obviated.

Several embodiments of the invention are diagrammatically illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carton having one form of adhesive lifting device according to the invention,

Figure 2 is a detail sectional view of the lifting device shown in Figure 1, but on a larger scale, and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of another form of lifting device according to the invention, for use in a carton;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a book having a lifting device according to the invention; 59

Figures 5 and 6 are respectively horizontal section and bottom plan views showing a modified form of lifting device according to the invention.

Like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, the body portion In of a carton having a lid I'2-has at the front a top wall H to which is hinged one end of a sheet l6 of light cardboard, which, when turned down closes the top of the carton. 'The carton V piece of paper 28, but in some cases the latter and the reinforcement 22 may be omitted. A tab of linen or the like is fixed to the same corner of the sheet IS on the upper side thereof above the tape 2 When the carton is open and the top sheet of the pile l8 has been exposed by folding back the wrapping 2:3, in order to remove the carbon sheets one by one from the carton, it is only necessary to grip the tab 30, place the tape. 24 on the top carbon sheet, which will have its carbon face downwards, lift the cardboard sheet l6, remove the top sheet of carbon paper that is temporarily affixed to the tape 24, replace the sheet IS on the pile, and repeat the operation. Owing to the tape 24 being fiexibie and able to yield in reiation to the holder IE on which it is mounted, the lifted deiicate sheet of carbon paper can be separated from the tape without being torn owing to the tape yielding during the separating operation.

In this construction, the tape 24 constitutes manually operable means having an adhesive face to be temporarily applied to the top surface of the sheet to be lifted, the sheet !6 constitutes holding means, and the tab- 30 constitutes a handle member. I

Obviously, a short length of adhesive tape could be threaded through a hoie or slit in the sheet I6, the inner end of which tape would be arranged to have its adhesive face temporarily applied to a sheet to be lifted, and the outer end would constitute holding means and be adapted to be gripped by a hand or implement.

In some cases the sheet l6 may be co-extensive with the top of the body l0 and may be hinged to the top edge of the front wall thereof. Alternatively, the sheet l6 when arranged as shown in Figure 1 or when hinged directly to the front wall, may only partly cover the top sheet of the pile.

Alternatively, a loose sheet H6 as she-wn in Figure 3, composed of cardboard, paper, metal, celluloid or the like, which is preferably stiffer than the sheets constituting the pile, may be arranged to lie on and wholly or partly, e. g. half, cover the top sheet of the pile.

'As shown in Figure4, when a pile of pliable sheets 32 is secured together at one edge bookwise, a lifting device as described above with rcference to Figures 1 and 2, may be arranged to lie on the top sheet of the pile. In this construc- 5 tion, a hinged cover 34 constitutes a holder of the lifting device and corresponds to the sheet I6 I shown inFigure 1'. 5; v

In the modified construction shown in Figures 5 and 6, a circular fiexibie adhesive member 33 in the form of a thin pad is fixed, e. g. by adhew sive at its margin, to the underside of a sheet l6,' and a tab 35 formed of the tape folded on itself, is secured by its ends to the upper side of the sheet [6 by a piece of stout paper 31 aflixed to i5 the latter and covering the ends of the tape. In

order to prevent the lifting device from being prematurely operative before it is intended to'be brought into use for lifting sheets of material, a piece of non-adhesive material 39, such as thin wax paper or the like, may temporarily cover the adhesive pad 33 and may be readily removed therefrom when desired. The pad 33 is permanently sticky and may comprise adhesive material containing rubber in a sticky condition. Such a pad does not require to be moistened to render it adhesive.

This modified construction may be used on the hinged sheet l6 shown in Figures and 2, or on the ioose sheet I Iii-shown in Figure 3, or on the hinged cover 34 shown in Figure 4.

Various modifications may be made in the details of construction deseribed above without departing from the invention as defined in the claim. For example; in eachof the constructions the adhesive face may be temporarily covered with a piece of wax paper or the like, and the sheets to be lifted may be tissue paper, metal foil, or the like.

I claim:

The combination of a support for a pile of sheets of carbon paper or the like, a cover constituted by a sheet of flexible sheet material ar= ranged to extend substantially across the support from one edge to the opposite edge, which cover is adapted to be pressed down on to and to con= tact substantially over its entire area with the top sheet of the pile to be lifted, an adhesive member that is carried by the underside of said cover and has on only one side an adhesive face to be applied to the upper surface of the said top sheets, and a tab constituting a handle member attached to the upper side of the cover opposite to the adhesive member, which adhesive member has a flexible portion that is be temporarily applied to the sheet to be lifted, and lies out of the plane of the under face of the cover, and is unattached to the cover.

, CONRAD RICHARDSON. 

